Mark Best celebrates the Coorong
Acclaimed chef Mark Best has returned to South Australia, teaming up with locals to serve an ode to the Coorong.
In a once-off dining experience on Saturday, February 22 at Kuti Shack in Goolwa, Best is celebrating the abundant wild produce and beauty of the Southern Ocean and Ngarrindjeri country.
“The Coorong is one of Australia’s most incredible places, and its produce is a gift to any chef,” Mark tells CityMag.
The South Australian chef and restaurateur has brought his cooking to national and global audiences on Masterchef Australia and Netflix’s The Final Table, but to start 2025, he’s going back to his roots.
Growing up on the Murray and banks of Lake Alexandrina, Mark deems freshly caught yellow-eyed mullet as the taste of his childhood.
“We used to go fishing along the beach… and caught small sharks and all sorts of things,” he says.
“It’s just one of those incredibly wild areas that you can’t help but be enchanted by when you go back.”
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It was on the beach collecting pipis years later that the partnership between Mark and Kuti Shack co-owners Brendan Roach (chef) and Vanessa Button (front-of-house) was formed.
“Since the first time I met Brendan I have been looking forward to the rare opportunity to work together,” Mark says.
Brendan & Mark waiting on a catch.
Now that the two busy chefs are both available, they’ve been hard at work crafting a menu that honours the local area, sourcing seafood from Hoads Fisheries, Coorong Wild, Goolwa Pipi Co and Cape Calamari.
Indigenous foraged ingredients from coastal landscapes and sand dunes rooted in the Ngarrindjeri tradition from Kuti Co will be used to enrich the menu with earthy, herbal flavour.
Guests can expect a long-table shared experience at lunch, while dinner trends slightly more beach formal with a six-by-six-course menu of snacks and larger plates.
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Fresh pippis
Mark says he is most excited about Brendan’s Coorong carp Chiko Roll.
He highlights his blue swimmer crab with almond milk as another delicious item diners should look forward to.
For something sweet (because a sweet treat is a must) Best is whipping up a taste of the Riverland with fig leaf and olive oil soft serve with peach sherbet.
Fig leaves will be sourced from the “incredible” 100-year-old orchards at Singing Magpie Produce.
Cheers!
The dining experience will begin on the sandhills next to Kuti Shack, where guests will be served snacks and a chance to put “a bit of sand between their toes.”
“You need to constantly remind people of the incredible natural, human, and cultural resources that are in these areas,” Mark says.
“They are so beautifully quiet in their own way and sometimes it’s nice just to remind people to go there and recognise the beauty of their own backyard.”
You can find Kuti Shack at the Main Beach Carpark on Beach Road, Goolwa. The one-day dining experience with Mark and Brendan’s menu is on Saturday, February 22. Tickets for lunch at 12.30pm and dinner from 6.00pm are available at Kuti Shack.